Centering, Grounding, Shielding,

Topic: Centering, Grounding, Shielding

Presenter: Cat

Date: 11/3/11

 Centering, Grounding, Shielding

Centering
     Centering is the practice of bringing yourself into yourself. This can be done physical, mentally, spiritually and is most effective in a combination of the three.

• Physically: Choose a position that is comfortable to you, makes you aware of yourself, but you will not fall asleep in. This can be standing with feet shoulder-width apart (this is good for a public or group ritual) or sitting cross-legged (best for personal ritual, meditation, other solitary acts). You may also decide to do a yoga position instead.
       Close your eyes and begin to breathe steadily. You may choose to breathe in, hold your breath, and then exhale after a few moments. Some people choose to do this in counts of three, or simply focus on the normal pattern of their breath.
  
• Mentally: There are a few options here. In the first, you should picture a place that calms you. Imagine breathing in the good things about that place, and exhaling all your inner stresses, worries, and negativity. Do this until you feel calm.
       The other option is to picture yourself as a silhouette. As you breathe in, imagine breathing in white light; as you breathe out, imagine exhaling shadow. As before, do this until you feel calm.
• Spiritually: This varies from person to person, but upon being centered physically and mentally, you may choose to spiritually center yourself. This, like with the mental techniques, can be done by inhaling spiritual force, divinity, or whatever else you connect with on the spiritual plane. If you so choose, and it works for you, you may also call in a god or goddess for calm, sincerity, and/or peace.

Remember: centering is about you, not your friends, family, pets, etc. This is personal, so do
not allow external factors, no matter how benign they may seem, to influence you here.

Grounding
     Grounding is the practice of taking your center and rooting it in the physical or the Earth. Ritual work, ecstatic work, divination, and many other Pagan spiritual acts can be very energetic in nature. We all need somewhere to put this excess energy, or somewhere to keep ourselves rooted into the Here-and-Now. Grounding does this.
     One popular technique of grounding is the Tree Method. In this technique, you imagine your center expelling a root or tendril down toward the Earth from your feet. Once it meets the Earth, you can imagine the Earth sending back a tendril or more to stabilize you. From your head or hands, imagine doing the same for the Sky/Heavens/etc. and receiving the same. Once you feel stable, you are grounded.

Shielding
     Shielding is arguably the most important of the three techniques here. It keeps your center, Self, etc. from being infiltrated or accosted by external forces, or simply keeps your inner-self from going every which way about this and other planes.
     To shield, you may choose a variety of things. First, think of what makes you feel safe. This can be a hug, a bubble, a locked door, walls, virtually anything. If, for example, you choose locked doors, picture yourself in a room with a door. Close the door and lock it, but make sure to put Will into it. You are now shielded. For more flexibility, picture a bubble expanding around you. This bubble is impenetrable, unless you decide to lower it or break it.

Things to Note
     It is important to remember that you do what works for you. My personal methods of centering, grounding, and shielding are variations on each of these, and those also vary depending on what I need at the time. You should figure out what works best for you and do that, not simply mimic what others tell you. Magic, even in basic forms such as these, is heavily personal. Simply keep this in mind when you go about this:
          Centering- personal energy
          Grounding- stabilization
          Shielding- protection
     These key words will help guide you through your methods of centering, grounding, and shielding.

Meditation Techniques

Topic: Meditation Techniques

Presenters: Jessi

Date: 9/15/11

Meditation

The act of finding inner harmony and peace with one’s self.

Thoughts from the squirrel in my head on the topic:

How you meditate is completely up to you. Whether you are sitting alone with your back up against an old oak tree, or you are staring into the flames of a fire, it is completely up to you. I was taught how to meditate to help calm my nerves when I was a young child. Some people use music, some people prefer the sounds of a babbling brook and others just prefer complete silence.


When you meditate, you should try to empty out your mind and find your “happy place,” so to speak. A place where you find ultimate relaxation and joy, and try to find a comfortable spot there. Once this is achieved, just relax and go with it. If you have questions that need to be answered, ask them at this point and hopefully, I can’t guarantee that it will always happen, but hopefully there will be an answer in one form or another.

When you want to exit out of your meditation, do so in a gentle way by slowly getting up from your spot that you are in, not literally, but in your “happy place,” and walk away from it slowly and bring your mind back to reality, as if you are waking yourself up on a lazy Saturday. Doing so gently will help you calmly walk out of it, if you just jerk your “self” back to reality, you may not bring yourself completely out of your meditation and might stay partially stuck in it all day. Trust me, I have had experience with this and it feels awkward. Thus why we try not to do it.


Hopefully this will help you on your path and journey.





Places to find basic information on meditation:
ü http://www.how-to-meditate.org
ü http://www.tm.org/
ü http://www.meditationanalysis.com/types-of-meditation.html
ü http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

Weekly Handout 3

PSA Weekly Handout 3

September 29, 2010

Rowan

Folk Names:  mountain ash, witchwood, quickbane, wild ash, witchen, witchbane, wicken tree, wiky, wiggy, roynetree, whitty, wiggin ran tree, roden-quicken-royan, sorb apple, roden-quicken, delight of the eye

Gender:  Hot

Planet:  Sun

Element:  Fire

Associated Deity: Thor

Parts Used:  Wood, twigs

Basic Powers:  Protection, healing

Specific Uses:  Tie two twigs of rowan together with red thread for a good, all-purpose charm.   Use the rowan branches in divining water, as is often done with hazel wood.  It is an excellent protection against lightening.  It is sometimes used to make magic wands.  Carry the wood with you as a good luck god (amulet).  A necklace of the berries is very healing.

Source:  Scott Cunningham - Magical Herbalism

Centering and Grounding

The use of centering and grounding is common amongst Pagans for many different types of magical practice, including divination.  Centering helps to clear the mind and get into a meditative state of mind that is conducive to divining while grounding can help keep you focused on the task at hand.

One way to center is to simply close your eyes, plant your feet and focus on your breathing.  A variant of this is to picture yourself breathing in light and exhaling shadow.

A common way to ground yourself before ritual or divination practice is known as the Tree Method.  To do this, one pictures themselves as a tree growing roots deep into the earth and branches that rise up high into the sky.

Wolf totem

Wolf is the Teacher, the Pathfinder, the guardian of pathways.  He comes to us when we need guidance in our lives and when we need to learn something, either about ourselves or about the world.  He is a symbol of strength, confidence and wisdom.

In history, the totem Wolf symbol appears with the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. Legend has it that the two founding brothers were raised and suckled by a she-wolf.

In Norse mythology, the Wolf is a symbol for victory when ridden by Odin and the Valkyries upon the battlefield.

As a Celtic symbol, the Wolf was a source of lunar power. Celtic lore states that the Wolf would hunt down the sun and devour it at each dusk so as to allow the power of the moon to come forth.

In Asia, the wolf guards the doors that allow entrance to heavenly, celestial realms. The Wolf is also said to be among the ancestry of Genghis Khan.      

Source: animaltotem.com, whats-your-sign.com